


Selke

by Aaron_The_8th_Demon



Series: Holding [1]
Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: Light Angst, M/M, Soulmate-Identifying Marks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-13
Updated: 2019-03-13
Packaged: 2019-11-16 11:37:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,653
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18093560
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aaron_The_8th_Demon/pseuds/Aaron_The_8th_Demon
Summary: Every morning before he goes to school, he always looks at his arm to make sure they’re still there. Two ordinary words - one he associates with how people use their hands, the other something everyone has. And then the big strange long one, that nobody can explain. *Left, Nose, Suspension.*When Brad Marchand becomes a de facto NHL player in 2009, Patrice keeps a friendly eye on him. Things get interesting pretty quickly, because Brad’s not lacking in talent… but he’s kinda (definitely) a pain in the ass for a lot of people. Something clicks, though, between the two of them. They discuss things often, where the left wing normally can’t (or won’t) have a serious conversation with most people and instead chooses to joke and chirp at everything. They read each other ridiculously well on the ice.And then, for Patrice, things get even more interesting in March 2011. Because Brad gets tossed for two days over elbowing an opponent. *Left.* Brad is a left-shooting left wing. *Nose.* Come on, obvious. The third word finally makes sense… because his team mate has been suspended.





	Selke

**Author's Note:**

> This is two and a half pages of essentially plotless fluff with a light coating of angst. It's also an apology to readers of this pairing, because the last thing I put up was unbearably depressing and got them both KILLED. So I wanted to write something more cute this time.

From the time he’s old enough to understand what they are, Bradley thinks the words are stupid. His don’t make any sense no matter how long he stares at them. At age seven, after trying and failing many times to even figure out how these words are pronounced when spoken, he finally asks his parents. They explain: everyone’s born with these. Someday, he’ll meet somebody that all three words apply to. That person is his soulmate.

Brad tells his parents how dumb he thinks that is. Why are they there? Why don’t they make sense? Why isn’t it just somebody’s name? He wants it to be someone he already knows, so that it’s not a surprise. His parents tell him that it’s almost guaranteed that it isn’t someone he’s already met by now, because he’s still little and hasn’t met that many people yet.

Finally, Brad asks how the words are said. He’s never seen them in books or at school. So his mother takes his arm and points to each word as she reads them out loud to him: _Alternate, Concussion, Selke._

* * *

As a boy, Patrice doesn’t really know how his words are supposed to fit together. Two are words in story books, and the third one is a big long word that he can’t puzzle out. His father tells him that it can mean several different things, while his mother is a little disheartened that the words are in English instead of French.

At school, the other boys don’t know what the third word is, either, at least not yet. They all stare at it, taking turns trying to guess what it’s for. Sometimes they ask him if he remembers always having them, because they saw a girl once who didn’t have any words at all, so maybe people aren’t always born with words… Patrice is pretty sure he was born with them, but his mother said once that they didn’t change from blue to black until he was three. For some reason, that means he was born before his soulmate. They’re blue if you’re born first, she explained to him back then, they turn black when your soulmate is born. If your soulmate dies, the words turn clear so that you can barely see them at all.

The idea scares him. When she tells him those things, it scares him a _lot._ Every morning before he goes to school, he always looks at his arm to make sure they’re still there. Two ordinary words - one he associates with how people use their hands, the other something everyone has. And then the big strange long one, that nobody can explain. _Left, Nose, Suspension._

* * *

By age twelve, Brad understands two of his words, having been playing hockey for several years now. He’s still not really sure what Selke is for, though. On the other hand, it’s really screwy for him, because it means he’s going to marry another hockey player, but all the girls he’s met who play hockey are annoying. He’s kind of short and somehow this year he’s turned funny-looking, so the girls want nothing to do with him.

His parents don’t get it whenever he asks, so Brad asks his coach about it one day instead. Coach tells him that he’s thinking too rigidly, because those words don’t always have something to do with hockey. Any sport can give its players concussions. For that matter, it could be _him_ getting the concussion, and his soulmate takes care of him while he gets better and they bond over it. Not everything is always about hockey, as nice as that would be.

The answer is far from satisfying. Because now that the words aren’t about hockey, they’ve stopped making sense for Brad. Hockey is really important to him, and he’s kind of gotten used to the idea of marrying another hockey player.

* * *

When he’s fifteen, Patrice is starting to get frantic. He looks up the words in the dictionary in case he missed something about what they mean, especially the last one.

 **_sus-pen-sion_** _. 1._ _The temporary prevention of something from continuing or being in force or effect. 2. The official prohibition of someone from holding their usual post or carrying out their usual role for a particular length of time. 3. The system of springs and shock absorbers by which a vehicle is cushioned from road conditions. 4. A mixture in which particles are dispersed throughout the bulk of a fluid._

Great. With these definitions, Patrice is somehow even more confused than he was before. His mother finds him with his face in his hands at the table, dictionary still opened to the word, and she pats him on the shoulder. He’s told that he shouldn’t think about it so much, because when he meets the person he’s supposed to be with, he’ll know.

That’s less comforting than she probably thinks it is. Patrice nods and thanks her anyway.

* * *

When Brad starts playing professionally, he does his absolute best not to let anyone see his arm. Because no matter how many times he’s been told that the words might not be about hockey, he’s got no reason to think otherwise. In his heart, in his gut, he just _knows_ they’re about hockey. And that’s really, really bad for him. What will his team mates say if they find out? Nobody will want to get near him ever again. His career will be over before it can really take off.

Once in awhile, it comes up in the locker room. Whenever somebody asks about his, Brad laughs it off by saying his words are something really, _really_ dirty that they’re better off not hearing. That gets everyone else chuckling and they start guessing what it could be while they’re throwing around their gear, and eventually the subject is dropped.

The only thing is he knows it won’t work forever. Someday, someone will find out.

* * *

When Brad Marchand becomes a de facto NHL player in 2009, Patrice keeps a friendly eye on him. Things get interesting pretty quickly, because Brad’s not lacking in talent… but he’s kinda (definitely) a pain in the ass for a lot of people. Something clicks, though, between the two of them. They discuss things often, where the left wing normally can’t (or won’t) have a serious conversation with most people and instead chooses to joke and chirp at everything. They read each other ridiculously well on the ice.

And then, for Patrice, things get even more interesting in March 2011. Because Brad gets tossed for two days over elbowing an opponent. _Left._ Brad is a left-shooting left wing. _Nose._ Come on, obvious. The third word finally makes sense… because his team mate has been suspended.

This can’t be right.

Patrice feels the anxiety of his teen years creep up on him a little, because as much as he wants to be wrong, it makes too much sense for it not to be true. They’re friends, they’re good together on the ice. More than good. It’s almost like Brad can read Patrice’s thoughts several seconds before he even has them and vice versa.

Brad being suspended and all, he’s not in the greatest mood as everyone’s leaving, but Patrice has to know. He catches his team mate and asks him, uncharacteristically bluntly, what Brad’s words are.

Nothing comes of it, because Brad just brushes him off by changing the subject. Thinking about it later, it seems really suspicious.

* * *

In May, Patrice is absent from the beginning of the third round because he’s concussed. That’s concerning for a lot of reasons, but when Brad realizes what that might mean for him personally, he starts to panic a little. Because being a professional hockey player for several years, he’s finally learned what the Selke trophy is, and Brad can already tell that Patrice Bergeron will probably win every award that exists in the NHL by the end of his career. The center is just that good.

Brad does his best to not think about that while they’re on the ice. Especially once Patrice recovers and returns to play. They still click on the ice, and Brad convinces himself somehow… his team mate doesn’t have a Selke award. That’s how it works, right?

Then Patrice scores the game-winning goal in game 7. They bring home the Stanley Cup. And Brad realizes, with a little bit of fear, that even ignoring the words on his arm… there’s no way around it. He’s in love with this guy.

When the party finally ends, Brad swallows his terror and pulls Patrice aside before they leave to go home. For once, he doesn’t say a word, because he really can’t think of anything that will sound right. He just slowly holds out his arm for his team mate to see.

Patrice’s response is a humble, confused observation that he doesn’t meet all three criteria. Then he confesses that it makes him sad, because… well, look at what his words are…

Brad can only stare for a long, uncomfortable moment. Patrice’s words are obviously, indisputably for him. He finally looks up to make eye contact and insists that his words are for Patrice. Patrice starts to argue, but Brad cuts him off, saying that even if he doesn’t have a Selke right now, he will someday. Brad can just feel it.

They’re like shy thirteen-year-olds at a school dance, looking at each other in silence because they want to touch and to kiss and to _everything_ but they’re too scared to actually do something about it. Finally, Brad’s impulsiveness saves them, because he reaches out to run his thumb along the words on Patrice’s forearm. It breaks the spell of insurmountable awkwardness and they both go to Brad’s place to talk things out… not that much talking actually takes place once they get there.

* * *

In 2012, neither of them is surprised when Patrice wins his first Selke.

**Author's Note:**

> I wasn't a Bruins fan until the middle of the 2013-2014 season when I got a TV for Christmas and there was literally nothing else on one night. So, I looked up a bunch of stuff for this one. Apparently Bergy's been concussed a bunch of times in real life and not just in fanfiction.
> 
> ADDENDUM. Why the hell is this my most popular story in the series? It's far from the best one but it has more kudos than any of the others.


End file.
